Fashion related cycling questionnaire

1. What is your favourite cycling brand? Why?
   Altura for reasonable quality and fit at accesible prices. Foska for getting well away from the stereotypical black, flouro and bold colours that most other manufacturers think are the only ones out there. Sugoi and similar for pushing technical limits.

2. What do you look for in your cycling clothing?
   Comfort, practicality, quick drying, sealable pockets.

3. What is your favourite cycling accessory?
   Crochetback cycling gloves, with relly good padding on the palms.

4. If you could invent anything to make cycling everday easier, what would it be?
   A faired recumbent e-trike, but that's more about my desires to see a move towards micro-commuting. Clothingwise I would expand on the idea of Rainlegs.

5. What does cycling mean to you? Is it just travel? Or is it a fashion accessory?
   Cycling is transport, a means of getting around easily, a form of recreation, a commitment to the environment, a closer enjoyment of the environment, freedom from the contraints of congestion and the limitations of the road network.

Once again a person looking at cycling fashion is IMO asking the wrong questions. We have tones of cycling fashion already. If you're trying to come up with cycling fashion then give up, it's probably already been done. On the otherhand, if you're looking to create fashion for cyclsits then stop, take all of the answers to the above questions and place them up on a big board for reference. Take a look from time to time. If you're matching those answers or answering those questions then you know you're going down the wrong route.
Now think about button down collars, ties, massive metal studs on skater's belts. Think about thumb loops on the strappy sleeves of a woman's top designed for a nightclub, a faux buckle on a pair of slingbacks, a zip along the thigh of a pair of skinny jeans whose sole purpose is to open and close and maybe expose a bit of flesh. All these things and many more features that are or have at one time been fashionable are fall all intents and purposes useless. Stop trying to make us look cool or sporty or outdoorsy or whatever preconception you might have about cyclists, give us indulgence, a bit of frivolity, even some plainness would be nice. You don't need to make us look like cyclists, two wheels and a frame between our legs will do that for us. So long as what you give us is functionally effective on a bicycle then go wild and design fashion. Think of some basic articles for cycling clothing that can be adapted to the whims of fashion, be it stripes, or patterns or whatever the new black is these days.

As for me, I want shoes with a retention strap and spd plates that haven't been designe to look sporty. I want socks that cover my ankles but don't have big bright/flouro/reflective things on them. I want a pair of trousers with an articulated knee and an ankle strap so I don't have to tuck into my socks or wear a clip and a bit of generousity around the thighs. I want a Tshirt that's cutt like a plain cotton T and as soft but quick drying etc. I want a comfy top that doesn't end three or four inches above my wrist when I'm stretched out on the drops because the headwind is a beast today. Give me a jacket that breathes a lot, has pit zips, a back pocket and all the other features of a cycling jacket but is subtle in it's appearance. I've gt the cycling gear that I need, I need something else. I need something allows me to be the other things that I am when I'm off the bike, a foodie at the gastropub, a reader at the book signing, an audiophile at the music recital and so on. Half the time I'm happy o look like a cyclist, the rest of the time I want to blend into the crowd, be something else, to be the other me and have a bit of style when I'm doing it.